Senior Advisor, Affiliate Strategic Planning

ACLU - National Office•New York, NY

5h•Hybrid

About The Position

The ACLU seeks applicants for the full-time position of Senior Advisor, Affiliate Strategic Planning in the Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiatives (ASNI) Department of the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month. The Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiatives Department (ASNI) builds state capacity and strengthens and maintains the connections between the ACLU and its network of 54 state affiliates and the 1,500 staff who work out of the state offices. Their work constitutes an unparalleled bulwark in the defending and advancing of civil liberties and civil rights. The Department staff lead efforts to share knowledge, talent, and skill across the organization, building the next generation of civil rights leaders and positioning the organization for future challenges. Reporting to the National Director, Affiliate Support and Nationwide initiatives, the Senior Advisor, Affiliate Strategic Planning is a senior role within Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiatives (ASNI) responsible for strengthening the quality, rigor, and impact of strategic planning across the ACLU’s nationwide enterprise. The position exists to ensure that affiliates have the frameworks, tools, and guidance needed to define their priorities and translate them into coherent, executable strategies that build durable institutional capacity and advance the ACLU’s mission across all states. Working in partnership with affiliate leaders and national colleagues, the Senior Advisor helps steward strategic planning processes that integrate program strategy, organizational capacity, governance, financial sustainability, and power-building goals. The role supports affiliates in navigating complex organizational environments—including rapid growth, leadership transitions, labor complexity, and heightened legal and political risk—by using strategic planning as a disciplined tool to strengthen alignment, clarify priorities, and build long-term resilience. The Senior Advisor also serves as a connective function between affiliate planning and enterprise-wide strategy, ensuring that affiliates have access to relevant national expertise and information about national priorities while preserving affiliate autonomy in setting their strategic direction. Through this work, the role helps surface patterns, opportunities, and risks across the affiliate network to inform stronger coordination and learning across the nationwide organization.

Requirements

At least 10 years of experience in strategic planning, organizational development, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated commitment to the mission of the ACLU
Demonstrated experience leading complex planning processes with senior leaders, boards, and multi-stakeholder organizations.
Substantial experience working with federated, networked, or multi-entity organizations.
Strong understanding of organizational systems, governance, budgeting, and people management in mission-driven organizations.
Proven ability to work across lines of authority and influence without direct control.
Exceptional facilitation, analytical, and written communication skills.
Deep commitment to equity and inclusion organizational practices.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with labor relations, unionized workplaces, or rapid organizational growth environments.
Experience partnering with legal, advocacy, communications, and political programs.
Prior work with affiliates, chapters, or state-based organizations.

Responsibilities

Provide direct advising and facilitation to affiliates undertaking strategic planning processes.
At their request, help affiliates steward their strategic planning processes, using a unified but flexible methodology grounded in organizational diagnostics, inclusive planning processes, equity considerations, and long-term sustainability.
In partnership with other department teams, promote the integration of organizational capacity, governance, staffing, culture-building, program and campaign planning, power building, and financial sustainability goals in the planning process.
Help affiliates translate strategic priorities into operational plans, milestones, and accountability structures that support effective implementation.
Support affiliates in establishing lightweight monitoring practices that enable leadership teams and boards to track progress and adjust strategy as conditions evolve.
Track strategic plan implementation progress and support course correction as conditions evolve.
With department leadership, support executive directors in structuring board engagement in strategic planning processes, strengthening governance alignment around long-term priorities and organizational sustainability.
Use strategic planning as a preventive leadership and governance tool, helping affiliates surface risks early, align leadership around priorities, and strengthen long-term institutional resilience.
Operate as a trusted advisor to affiliate leadership, requiring regular access to sensitive organizational information—including financial conditions, leadership dynamics, governance matters, and strategic risks—while maintaining the highest standards of discretion and professional judgment.
Maintain strict confidentiality and discretion when engaging with affiliate boards and executive leadership, particularly when this work involves sensitive matters such as organizational health, leadership transitions, financial sustainability, and governance challenges.
Oversee and resource a vetted pool of consultants supporting affiliate planning processes, ensuring quality, methodological consistency, and alignment with ASNI planning principles while adapting to affiliate context.
Develop tools and learning resources—including case studies and peer exchanges—that help affiliates address common planning challenges and share innovations, learnings, and effective approaches to scale across the network.
Advise departmental leaders managing affiliate grant portfolios to strengthen the impact and durability of affiliate strategic investments; review and synthesize affiliate grant reports for department leadership.
Develop and apply criteria to prioritize affiliate strategic planning engagements based on organizational need, timing, readiness, and potential enterprise impact.
Provide lighter-touch advising, tools, or referrals when full planning support is not feasible.
Consult with departmental leadership to ensure planning support is targeted where it will most strengthen affiliate resilience and long-term impact.
Translate patterns emerging from affiliate strategic plans into insights that inform departmental and national strategy discussions.
Identify recurring structural challenges or emerging opportunities across affiliates and elevate them to department leadership to inform enterprise-level decision making.
At affiliates’ requests, support meaningful national expert input in the affiliate planning process while preserving flexibility.
Synthesize affiliate strategic plans, capacity assessments, threats and opportunities assessments, and organizational priorities into a network-wide analysis, identifying shared themes, trends, risks, and strategic opportunities.
With the Strategy Office and department leadership, design and steward structured pathways for affiliate input into national strategic planning efforts, ensuring engagement is representative, constructive, and feasible at scale.
Serve as a connective function between affiliate strategic planning and national strategy development, ensuring that consultation and synthesis inform enterprise strategy while respecting affiliate authority over their own priorities and plans.
Serve as an ambassador to other National departments and affiliates about this work and its impact.
Work closely with Department teams to draw on special expertise and ensure coordinated and coherent affiliate-facing support, including identification of key opportunities for training, coaching, or facilitation support.
Contribute to departmental strategy, frameworks, and continuous improvement based on emerging trends and patterns across the affiliate network.
Partner with department teams to integrate best practice strategic planning approaches as appropriate.
Contribute to the design and production of the annual affiliate Overview Survey.

Benefits

Time away to focus on the things that matter with a generous paid time-off policy
Focus on your well-being with comprehensive healthcare benefits (including medical, dental and vision coverage, parental leave, gender affirming care & fertility treatment)
Plan for your retirement with 401k plan and employer match
We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops

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